A C C O U N T Unscramble

Whether in the form of a fizzy beverage or flavored lozenges, common cold and influenza preventative supplements nearly ever highlight vitamin C as one of their key ingredients. And then, what’s so magical about vitamin C? Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is critical to living healthily. Since the human torso cannot spontaneously generate this nutrient, vitamin C must instead be absorbed from outside sources, such as vitamin supplements or foods that are naturally rich in information technology.

Ordinarily institute in common cold and flu preventative supplements, vitamin C strengthens and speeds up immune organisation functionality. Though research does not bespeak that vitamin C intake lone can foreclose the onset of cold or flu, adequate daily intake may shorten the duration of an infection or lessen the severity of symptoms.

Vitamin C is crucial for the maintenance of well being. For case, information technology plays a part in wound healing and helps maintain many essential body tissues. It as well acts as a potent antioxidant and can repair damage from free radicals, which are linked to aging effects, and disease vulnerability. Additionally, vitamin C can as well forbid anemia, since it helps the body increase absorption of dietary iron, another vital mineral that the body cannot spontaneously create.

Foods that comprise high concentrations of vitamin C have been linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular affliction, like heart attack and stroke. Vitamin C tin can also increase levels of nitric oxide, a compound that widens blood vessels and, in turn, lowers claret pressure level. In add-on, regular intake of vitamin C, forth with other vitamins, has been linked to a decreased take a chance for developing age-related cataracts, a leading cause of visual impairment in the United States.

Mutual Sources of Vitamin C

Vitamin C tin be easily obtained through the many different foods, including:

• Citrus fruits and juices (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime and tangerine)
• Berries
• Melons
• Mangoes
• Kiwi
• Tomato
• Broccoli
• Red peppers
• Spinach
• Squash
• Potatoes

Cooking these foods may result in the loss of some of the vitamin content, so information technology is platonic to ingest them raw, either whole or juiced. Nowadays, at that place are likewise numerous packaged food products, like cereals, that take been enriched and fortified with vitamin C, so that the nutrient can be easily obtained.

Vitamin C may also exist labeled as “L-ascorbic acid” in supplement form, and most over-the-counter multivitamins comprise the recommended daily amount of the vitamin. While information technology is a good source when an individual is in need of a vitamin C heave, supplements are not meant to supervene upon a diet rich in naturally derived vitamin C.

What Happens When You Have Too Much — or Too Piddling — Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that can be hands flushed out of the body via urination when information technology is not needed. Therefore, if the chief source of vitamin C is from naturally occurring foods, it is near-impossible for excess vitamin C to produce side effects. Nonetheless, taking excessive concentrated vitamin C supplements may pb to diarrhea or tum upset.

Since vitamin C-rich foods are so readily available nowadays, symptoms of inadequate vitamin C intake are as well rare in the United States. Yet, malnourished individuals can experience symptoms of vitamin C deficiency over time, including:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Anemia
• Like shooting fish in a barrel bruising
• Joint pain
• Pare breakup
• Weakened tooth enamel
• Mucilage inflammation

Severe vitamin C deficiency is referred to as scurvy. Scurvy can be easily treated with increased dietary or supplemental vitamin C. Since vitamin C is crucial in the detoxification of the body, a lack of vitamin C can compromise the immune system and make an individual more susceptible to diseases and infections. Individuals with bereft vitamin C may notice that it takes longer than usual to recover from a cold or a physical wound.

Daily Dosage Recommendations:

The daily dosage recommendation for vitamin C is different for everyone, depending on factors such as gender, age, lifestyle and current health status. The recommended daily dosage for vitamin C is at least 75 mg daily for women and 90 mg for men. Since people who are pregnant, chest feeding, smoking or using oral contraceptives have a lower blood level of vitamin C than others, larger doses of vitamin C may exist needed to achieve optimal results in these individuals. Those who have prior or current medical conditions may likewise require bigger or smaller dosage levels, as recommended by their healthcare providers.

Resource Links:

• “Vitamin C” via MedlinePlus
• “Vitamin C and Infections” via MDPI
• “Extra Dose of Vitamin C Based on a Daily Supplementation Shortens the Common Common cold: A Meta-Assay of nine Randomized Controlled Trials” via Hindawi, BioMed Research International
• “Vitamin C” via National Institutes of Wellness
• “Scurvy” via U.South. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Wellness
• “Dietary intake and claret concentrations of antioxidants and the hazard of cardiovascular affliction, total cancer, and all-crusade mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies” via The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• “Dietary vitamin and carotenoid intake and risk of age-related cataract” via The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
• “Cardiovascular Organisation” via Department of Beefcake, Seoul National Academy Higher of Medicine (via Springer)